Iranian Smoke and MirrorsTry to tell me Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wasn't the most talented politician at U.N. week. Really, go ahead. The leader, who should have been reviled last week, somehow navigated zoo-york with the expertise of a lifelong Upper East sider. Sure, nearly everyone walked out of his speech at the General Assembly, but nobody forced him to answer serious questions about his legitimacy nor his regime's unwillingness to allow peaceful protests in the wake of flamboyantly manipulated elections. He, of course, was greatly aided by the resurgence of Col. Muammer Qaddafi as a fellow face of Islamic reprehensibility and calamity. The jubilant welcoming of the Lockerbie bomber home to Tripoli in early September provided enough fodder for most news agencies' back stories and human interest narratives. The King of all Kings of Africa's 90-minute U.N. address, a bit longer than the 15 minutes allotted, didn't hurt either. No, Ahmadinejad controlled the news cycle in a way we haven't seen since Obama was still a long shot. A speech on the eve of his adventure to New York denying the Holocaust once more — this time more fervently — ensured he would not have to deal with any of the important issues at hand. During an interview, CBS's Katie Couric held up a picture of Neda Agha-Soltan, a young woman killed in Tehran's post-election protest. Ahmadinejad held up his own photo of a murdered woman in response, this one of an Egyptian woman named Marwa al-Sherbini, who was stabbed to death in a German court by a racist lunatic. Why didn't Couric know her, he asked; why wasn't her face in the American news? One really thinks he must have fun each September when he comes to New York, whether it's explaining that there are no homosexuals in Iran to a lecture hall at Columbia University, or watching as his words move even diplomats to leave the room. And then came the revelation that the Iranians have been carving out a secret nuclear enrichment facility beneath a mountain near the holy city of Qom.
The Iranians would never be; they are the 17-year-olds of the global order, always capable of an excuse, regardless of how red the hand. They will contend that they are only obligated to disclose the site 180 days before enrichment begins. And while the global community will balk and start, the enabling stepfather, Beijing, will quietly look the other way. Fifteen percent of the petroleum China imports comes from Iran, and strategic ambitions for pipelines and deeper ties are far more important that a few missiles between friends. Hoping that China would be willing to offset their energy needs with oil from other gulf producers is quite simply a pipe dream. A sizeable corner of Washington has long hoped for a grand bargain with Iran. They convincingly argue that we've misplayed engagement at a number of junctures, and that Obama's overtures toward a new relationship — in the form of a letter to the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei — have been half steps and hedges. But instead of discussing such a full strategic realignment, or the horrors we witnessed in the streets of Tehran this summer — the beatings and bloodshed of peaceful protestors, the rapes and torture in Evin prison — we find ourselves discussing something else. Something that feels a great deal like a deja vu: Holocaust denials and a nuclear program that everyone is certain we cannot trust. Yes, we've been here before, and yes, the game is getting rather old. It's only a match if both sides are willing to play, Tehran, and your opponents are getting bored. Brian Till, one of the nation's youngest syndicated columnists, is a research fellow for the New America Foundation, a think tank in Washington. He can be contacted at till@newamerica.net. To find out more about the author and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com. COPYRIGHT 2009 CREATORS.COM
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